Category: Colombia

The second half of our trip in Colombia flew by! I’ve hardly had time to write about it because we’ve been doing, doing, doing from morning till evening.

The week included an amazing day exploring Chicauqe, hiking up and down seeing amazing views and fluffy llamas. We also had a lovely visit to Julián’s grandma’s home in a small village about 2 hours outside of Bogota. She’s probably one of the strongest 80 year olds I’ve ever met. Mariela proudly showed us around her property, picking mandarines from her trees for us and showing us her “little fincas” that she’s painted and decorated her yard with.

We arrived in the afternoon and promptly went shopping to start the preparation of the tamales! We used her outdoor, wood oven with the help of her friend. We gathered leafs from the plantain trees, washed and cut them and then began the assembly of the other ingredients: corn, carrots (to absorb the acid from the meat), lots of meat…, and hard boiled eggs.

Julian went to go drop off her friend in the village so for awhile it was just Mariela and I. I was attentively following her every instruction to make the tamales. Mariela and I had good conversation about how you should never stop learning things. She said she’s a doer and never wants to stop working on her property because it’s what makes her happy. We spent about 5 hours prepping the tamales and then put them in boiling water overnight. 

The next morning we had some sweet bread and then later the tamales, yum!! They were delicious. The late morning was accompanied by Mariela and Julian playing guitar and singing together. This was my favorite part of the time here because it warmed my heart to see and hear them sing together. Mariela even sang a song about going to Chile for me and included me in some songs.

Mariela didn’t want us to go but we had to get back to prep for the climbing weekend in La Mojarra. After some gringo stories, Julian and I were on our way back to Bogota. We stopped by El Salto del Tequendama to take some photos of the waterfall. I remember researching this place before our trip, it was crazy to actually stand on the ground I was seeing Google images of months before. I learned about the history and myths from Julian as we drove by. 

The next thing on the agenda was the 12 hr bus ride through the night. So worth it. We arrived early in the morning to a hostel on a cliff of a mountain, with trails below it leading to a platheura of climbing routes. So damn beautiful. 

We climbed for three days straight! Kendall and I got to meet so many lovely people. It was so amazing to be able to use Spanish to laugh, climb, and bond with everyone. The group had varying levels of climbers with the intent to just introduce people to outdoor climbing, no stress attached. The gym that was behind this was the gym that Julián opened with a partner. The atmosphere that they created was sincerely unique and incredible. Everyone supported everyone, it didn’t matter what you climbed. We met a lot of climber hippes that reminded us of friends back in Missoula. I think people like this exist all over the world. I got waves of happiness and gratitude for where I was as I walked around the hostel at the top of the mountain just thinking how lucky I am to be here.

It’s bittersweet to be saying goodbye to Colombia. I hope it’s a place that I can come back to because I know there’s still so much left to see. The people have made it one of the most welcoming places I’ve ever been to. Kendall and I have talked about how fast our trip is going to go by…How do you hold onto time when you see it flying by right in front of you? 

Everyday I think to myself…“there’s no way we are going to see anything more beautiful than this,” and every time I’m proven wrong. The theme song for this week is, “Bonito” by Jarabe de Palo (a personal favorite of Kendall) describing how everything seems beautiful.

We climbed an entire day in Choachí. This has probably been my favorite stop yet because we were surrounded by farms and fog floating above the mountains. We payed one of the people in the village to climb on the mountain nearby. It was absolutely beautiful and I climbed harder routes than ever before! We were going to see a waterfall too but had so much fun climbing that we decided to stay all day.

After climbing, we walked across the street to eat food at a local restaurant. The woman who served us was so sweet, like a grandma and brought us delicious soup, tea, avocado, and bread with cheese. It was perfect to eat after climbing and to warm up from the rain. Perfect day.

The following day, we awoke especially early to drive to Villa de Leyva to walk around the town and market. This is definitely a tourist attraction but so worth it because the pebbled roads and colorful shops felt so fantastically foreign. We also drove an hour away to another, less touristy town, where we picked out a vase to give to Juliáns family as a thank you. We also tried a local artisan beer that was delicious, I tried the Maracuya flavor. 

After exploring the villages, we drove to our hostel that consisted of rooms shaped like sombreros. Definitely one of the weirdest and cutest hostels I’ve stayed in! We walked to get empanadas and had conversations about cat calling, walking solo v. with groups, traditions with peoples names in different cultures, and more. Julián is always bringing up interesting subjects to talk about and he especially likes to discuss things that we disagree on. It’s been a bit hard though to find subjects because we all agree on so much, even the topic of abortion. 

We watched “Yesterday” in our hostel room and Julián practiced English with me while watching the movie. The next morning we drove to Machetá to climb! I should have known what I was getting myself into traveling with two climbers this week, hah! It was yet another beautiful spot with amazing rocks. There were more people at this spot who were super friendly and cheering us on when we climbed. We left in the dark, having an adventure walking down the muddy mountain in the nighttime.

We had more interesting conversations in the car ride and listened to music and podcasts. Once we returned to Bogotá, Julian’s parents were home and warmed us up some food to eat — so hospitable. It was great catching up with them about their weekend and they seemed really happy to see us. 

I’ve had some great conversations with Julián about the Venezuelan refugee crisis and illegal immigration to the states. It’s useful that I studied so much of this subject in school and even did a research paper on immigration so I could clearly express my opinion with facts to back me up. He told me how happy he was to hear my opinion about immigration, coming from a place of privilege. 

During this week, we also hiked Páramo Sumapaz all day which was stunning, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.  On this hike, I really thought, “how could it get any more beautiful than this.” It gave me a lot of peace to be on top of the mountains, in cold fresh air, with silence. It was also comforting to be surrounded by warmer colors that reminded me of fall back home. 

Julián did a great job planning a touristy day that’s followed by a nature day, and so on. The next day we went to the Catedral de Sal and the village of Zipaquirá. The salt mines were cool to see and very religion heavy. We did a tour in Spanish and then enjoyed a delicious lunch outside in the afternoon. 

Kendall and I can hardly believe we go to Chile in a week!

I’m just going to start this post by saying that Colombia has lots of entry requirements and I was not well prepared for that. Always proves that arriving early to an airport is worth it! The flight to Colombia from Costa Rica was only 2 hours and very pleasant (clean, free food and drinks, and everyone was required to wear a mask). 

Julián was waiting for us at the airport after we went through immigration and customs (and what a relief to not have to worry about transportation from the airport)! Him and his brother drove us to their home and we caught up in the car. Bogota is huge! It was so cool driving through it and such a pleasant afternoon with sunshine and fresh air. Julian showed us around their home where him, his brother, and parents live with their dog. It was so clean and nice and Julian even served us a meal right when we arrived and gave up his bedroom for us. 

We walked and took the bus to his climbing gym that was a bit far away. I was so thankful to be following him because I would have been so lost. We switched buses a lot and there was quite the crowd of people. He advised me to put my backpack on my front side and I thought I would stand out that way but then I noticed that everyone was doing that! 

Once we arrived to the climbing gym, Julian introduced us to all of his buddies (he used to work at the gym). Everyone was so kind there. We climbed for a few hours and then made our way back to his home where we met his parents. 

We got to know them over a rice and chicken dinner that his mom prepared. She also made us a delicious tea and some sweet cheese to go with it. This family has already been so hospitable and kind.

The following day we awoke at 7am to eat a breakfast with the family and then head out to a town called Suesca to climb! It was a beautiful town, surrounded by lush green grass and mountains. We walked along train tracks with a group of pups to a climbing route. Julián picked out a multi-pitch (3 pitches) for us to climb with trad gear. That was the first time I climbed a multi pitch and saw someone lead climbing with trad gear. I was a little freaked out at first but I decided to be on board. It was so worth it because the views were amazing and it was an easier route. We then ate at the top of the mountain and hiked down it. 

We then did another route on our way back to the car. We then found a restaurant to eat chicken at and made friends with more dogs. Once we got back to Bogotá, we had another evening conversation with the family. This night felt hard for me to talk because I felt especially tired. 

The following day was another big one but in the city! We hiked up just under a thousand steps to Monserrate. This was so exciting because it was the perfect mix of exercise and overlooking Bogotá as we got higher. 

Eventually, just under an hour later, we reached the small town and church. It was so beautiful and luckily not busy because it was a weekday. We then went down via a gondola thing and walked to get lunch at a really cool and popular indoor market. 

We ate new food and walked around the vegetable and fruit stands, learning about foods that aren’t in the U.S. We then made our way through dumping rain to El Museo del Oro (the gold museum). This was a very cool stop to learn about the gold and history in Colombia. 

Next up was La Plaza where governmental buildings and fancy universities lie. This was near the old neighborhoods in Bogotá and had a fun nightlife feel. We went in a bar and tried “Chicha,” a traditional Colombian drink while we played janga and darts. Then, we took the buses back to the house and had another evening conversation with the family. They also seem to want to catch up and offer us some sort of food. It felt a lot easier to converse this night and Julián’s mom even practiced some English with us! We then watched her soap opera in Spanish which was very exciting and dramatic! 

I’ve been practicing my Spanish everyday, Kendall and I only speak English a few minutes each day to each other. I’m learning new words, songs, and food everyday. I’m so thankful for Julián and his generosity to show us around Bogotá for 2 weeks. I love when I get the chance to talk to Julián or his parents one on one so I can get the most practice possible.